Heart Centered Integration

When we reach the Level 4, the power of Life, Light and Love come together where we become a major creative contributor. The symbol of this embodiment is an overflowing chalice in the position of the heart. This chalice is the source of eternal life. It represents our ability to make long-term contributions for the benefit of the world. In effect, we become builders for a better future. It is also related to the sign of Aquarius, which we have now entered since we ‘pour forth water for thirsty men’. As a part of humanity, it is our source of abundance as we make critical choices about our future. The chalice represents that the time of collecting is here and we are close to stepping into a time of giving. It also indicates that we are now self-declared world servers, who are contributing by building a bridge to our internal higher ways of knowing.

This is also called Straight Knowledge, which knows without having to think about it. In one book, it is referred to as “consciousness without an object of focus.” Straight Knowledge is balanced equally between masculine and feminine perspectives. It is different from Intuition because it is not based on or limited by our Personal or Transpersonal Desires. Instead, it is the unencumbered perception as Truth where we have no doubt. The purpose of Straight Knowledge is to affirm that we can now begin our endeavor on an entirely new level. Some will say this knowing was always present within us. Others believe it emerges when we grow beyond a Survival or Outer Success framework. What is clear is that the consciousness is impersonal, open, and seeks opportunities to manifest the greatest good. It is about doing more with less, using discrimination and magnetic attraction to separate the higher from the lower options, and to be a synthetic solution for many sources. The more we think at this level, the clearer our path will become. The deeper our conscious embodiment, the more profound our life contribution will be.

Level 4 is also about letting go of self-imposed Personality limitations. Rather than getting sucked into the problems of others, we learn to let people experience their problems allowing them to work on their lessons. The Defensive Distortions no longer limit us. We can see our relationships and Authentic Life Expression in a new way. It initiates the development of a psychic shield around our personal space so we will not be affected when we go into areas where Life, Light and Love are denied. We call this denial Imperil, based on the Agni Yoga books. Knowing about Imperil (where individuals are trapped by either their own self-denial and hatred, or by the intrusions of those with Imperil), teaches us to maintain our creative light under all circumstances. By visualizing this shield, we are able to neutralize these chaotic forces and bring greater harmony to people and places in need.

CNG shields our heart. It permits us to realize that a CNG is the best protection we can have. It is completely energetic and does not require defining ourselves in any prescribed manner (such as behaviors, emotions or thoughts). In addition, it is the best tool for identifying any malicious Intent or Motives. After practicing a CNG, our psychic shield becomes powerful and most attacks bounce off without leaving any residue. So far, we have created at least two Zones of awareness where we are able to go back and forth at will. Zone 1 is the inner awareness that monitors our well-being. Zone 2 is our outer relationship space, which captures energy directed at us, and either transforms, grounds, or diverts it into safe expressions. Optimally, when these two Zones are working together, we are able to build a Co-Creative process with our partners.

When a CNG is firmly established, we begin to create a Zone 3, which creates a larger shield around those we love, cherish and support. This is empowered by prayers, well-wishes and visualizations as we learn to gradually expand our Co-Creative Intent in the Universe. First, we seek the well-being of all individuals in the pursuit of their creative destiny. Second, we seek to learn how to bring out the best in others to transform our circumstances. Third, we seek to share our Life, Light and Love with those of like purpose so our efforts are manifested to support Universal Intent. The courage this takes is found in our hearts, and shows up as a chalice of creative destiny.  

At the fourth Level of CNG, Co-Creativity is the capacity to align with another to create a larger, more powerful result. This is when we not only step up and share ourselves, but we also know how to coordinate our experiences with others. One of the best ways we recognize that we are at this level is the passion we have for exploring the unknown. Since we realize that we have nothing to lose, we are willing to put it all on the line in certain relationships or projects, just to see what is possible. This is a transition process because the more we learn about ourselves with others, the more it begins to stabilize and refine our ability to contribute to others. We discover that there is a creative potential with each individual and, in some situations, an accelerated way to actualize this potential because of our understanding of the differences between our selves and others.

Becoming Co-Creative first requires that we affirm our Authentic Nature. The more we honor our greatness, in a non-egoic way, and in terms of making a contribution in life, the more quickly we will get through this level. When we honor our contribution we build a relationship with the Universe. We feel a special connection with our constituents who are the beneficiaries that guide our development. Constituents are those people who guide us to the fulfillment of our Authentic Life Expression. Every person has their particular Constituents who will show up when they declare their natural contribution. It is important to let go of our Imprinting, Pretenses and Defenses so we do not get caught in unbalanced, predetermined activities. It is about letting go of needing to define us in terms of our parents, authority figures or seeking the admiration or adoration of others. All these things become secondary to building a greater acceptance of our creative contributions. The best metaphor is the caterpillar becoming a butterfly. We have the same necessary ingredients to live life, but now we use them in a completely new way.

When we move into Level 4, we need to let go of how we defined ourselves in terms of our personality. We need to move into higher Motives, Attractions and Relationship Skills and discard the imperfect steps that got us here. This is the best way to acknowledge our striving to be the best we can be. When we begin to attract others with the same commitment to their lives, it not only stabilizes us but also increases our capacity to make this transition. This means recognizing that we do not need to reference our past as if it is our present. It also means that, as a Creative Being, we manifest the potential to bring in Pleasure, Power and Passion in a natural and easygoing manner. It requires that we clean up any residue around Objectification, Subjectification and Idealization. The more we do this, the more it opens us up to a new world of freedom, where anything is possible.

There is a lot to understand about differences and Creativity. First, we can learn about the difference between Primary, Secondary and Mental Body Expressions. Second, we can learn about the seven types of Expression and how everyone has three Creative Intelligence Expressions. Any confusion about who they are authentically is usually eliminated when individuals take into consideration their parental Imprinting, from which they act out as if it were their own. This awakens them to why they have to be a certain way, so they can let these self-limiting patterns go. Finally, there are the 15 Compatibility Factors and how each one can amplify and interact with the rest. We recommend that you start by getting an assessment completed so you can begin reading your own descriptions. This will give you a starting point for examining your unique strengths and weaknesses. It is at this level where we understand all the Compatibility Factors and their relative merits. In Higher Alignment, we always work from our strengths to empower our less powerful attributes. Our Primary Creative Expression becomes the integrating framework for all the Compatibility Factors. We call this process Centralization.

Ultimately, lining up around our Primary Creative Expression is the easiest and most profound way to be seen and loved. This process greatly expands our ability to love ourselves because we cannot love our partners without first loving ourselves. The benefit of this is that we have relationships without strife and animosity. Instead, our relationships are flowing and co-creative, and support mutual growth. The most useful aspect of greater communion is to be able to know how to bring out the best in our partners. Sometimes, this is accomplished through self-forgiveness, forgiveness of others, and a desire to be transformed through the process of loving a partner. Other times, it is merely the way we show up. Another benefit is that we know immediately when people aren’t on our wavelength. This creates a situation where we make no false promises and do not feel that we need to explain our decision-making process to satisfy their egoic concerns. What we want is more freedom to explore how things could work so we develop greater Skillful Means. Skillful Means is the capacity to align with others using our commonalities to facilitate our ability to get things done.

The first major shift toward Personality Integration occurs when we can be around people who are similar, if not the same, in terms of Compatibility Factors. While we experimented with this in Level 3, now we become committed to it in our Life Work, our Primary Partnership and Community interactions. In short, this means we seek out people who are like us in all Compatibility Factors. These people will not only get us, but we will not need to explain ourselves. One aspect of this process is to clear out all of our Imprinting so we can focus on what is real in terms of our Primary Creative Expression. Others with the same Primary Expression will be the best teachers for us to see where we do not love ourselves completely. We will recognize how to be more compassionate with those who do Imprinting over their Primary Creative Expression, as these individuals were usually repulsive to us before. What we are doing is building inner clarity about what is authentic and what is not. The CNG is the most powerful way to refine our experience of being and living our Primary Creative Expression, so that we are immediately able to recognize the people who are like us.

Many individuals describe this level as a re-orientation process where they move from a personal way of operating to a transpersonal one. The more they become aware of their own natural Creativity, the more they realize that Creative Resonance defines our relationships. The more we are energetically and consciously congruent with our creativity, the more effective we are. This means we attract individuals more actualized in their Authentic Life Expression. What we miss is the activity and personal focus that defined our previous life. The key indicator that we have made this shift is that we adopt and use CNG most of the time. This re-deployment of our own energy from a defensive to a Creative framework opens up many new doors. It becomes a way to quickly recognize the problems of others. As a result, while we may want to help and be supportive of others, we soon realize that, where co-dependence reigns, it locks us down and limits the upside possibilities. This produces a greater understanding that seeking partners without CNG skills is a disaster.

Enthusiasm is the key indicator showing that we are operating in Co-Creative partnerships. Enthusiasm represents the ability to fully breathe together. It is a mutual experience of joy. Joy is the natural result of expressing ourselves authentically. This means we have shifted out of defining ourselves in terms of what we do or how we relate to embracing our Being in the moment. While this level may be more masculine through its interactions with others, it supports a conscious merging where its feminine is mainly expressed. This means that the feminine and masculine work well together to open our perceptions to all the options. The de facto response to inquiries about improvements is, Why not? This is one of the primary reasons we feel empowered to choose the lessons that show up in our lives rather than to wait for them to express themselves.

The paradox of owning our Primary Creative Expression is that we actually become selfless. This occurs because we are no longer attached to our Personality perspectives. Some would say that we are starting to become more Impersonal and our reactions, if not eliminated, are certainly minimized at this level. Selflessness, though, is where we do not need to think about who we are because we are simply being who we are. It is a commitment to be our selves and not worry about what others are thinking in any way. Personality detachment is about letting go of needing to prove our selves. It is also helpful to imagine Personality detachment as a way of being more real without having to be self-important about our reality.

Upper Boundary Limits exist when we run into fears that, if something is beyond our Personality’s awareness it will be more problematic than the opportunity it represents. While there are some Upper Boundary Limits that do present problems like this, most are simply about shifting from a conditioned fear to affirming who we are as a Creative Being. This means that before we become self-judgmental about what we cannot do, we should examine what we have done and where our current capacities are leading us. We need to treat ourselves well when making the transition from our Personalities to our Creative Nature. We need to forgive ourselves for falsely believing that our aspirations are delusional, overly egoic or self-important. The confusion that often arises is when we believe that we cannot distinguish our Safety and Security needs from our Creative Nature. Yes, we can be egoic around Personality issues by trying to prove how important we are. This may have nothing to do with wanting to expand our selves and be seen in our Primary Creative Expression. Until we recognize the difference between these, most of the Upper Boundary Limits will be false alarms that will require some personal affirmation to correct.

Another egoic personality distortion is making ‘sacrifice’ a bad word. If we are sacrificing Personality limitations, (eliminating Defenses, Pretenses and Imprinting) our survival and success programming tells us (incorrectly) that we will not function well. It does take a little bit of time to readjust to how our creativity would respond in a situation, rather than using our protective mechanisms to minimize the things we do not want. Shifting from the limited perspectives of our Personality into the larger possibilities of our Creative Nature is disorienting, making our Personality uncomfortable. The best thing to do is confront this discomfort and to fully go into the experience of it. Instead, the Personality wants you to avoid these issues of discomfort, and ignore them as much as possible. Better yet, just ignore any Personality sacrifice and, instead, divert attention to Creative self-sacrifice so the Personality will not have to give up any of its rules or regulations. Based on your inner voice, you can start to identify if you are operating from your Personality framework or from your Creative Nature.

Fairness and compassion arise the more we come to understand that every person’s Creative Expression has a unique purpose and value in the world. Just because we do not understand something does not mean it is not important. We begin to see the benefits of having certain Primary and Secondary Expressions together. Each combination has its own strengths and weaknesses but it has more potential when the Expressions are combined and integrated. We call the integration of our Primary and Secondary Creative Expression ‘gifts’ because they blossom when we actualize and accept ourselves as we are. Creative Gifts enable individuals to operate as geniuses in particular domains. Fears of what others think do not limit us. This increases our ingenuity and allows us to put together our own Intelligences in a new way. This empowers us to move society forward. Our choice in partners either enhances or minimizes the manifestation of these gifts. The more we deepen into the experience of our Gifts, the easier it is to see the Gifts of others.

The freedom to say no to any relationship or option is what distinguishes this level from others. We are no longer attracted to individuals who are not engaging their own life work. We are aware of the difficulties that enmeshment and compromise cause in relationships. Meaning that we are not in any rush to find someone just to fill our personality Desires. Instead, we build relationships on a creative level step-by-step while making sure our partner candidates are who we think they are. We are able to see our own problems and limitations and accept theirs because we experience the value of the relationship. What becomes important is the quality of the connection. Unconscious Attractions, lower Motives and individuals lacking Skills can become repulsive. The reason to be in a relationship is primarily to experience Creative Synergy.

 At this level, CNG is about maintaining an internal balance or wholeness so that we can be in the CNG whenever we wish. Many individuals start using the CNG only in situations where they have experienced previous difficulties with others. While the CNG is great at protecting us in a more conscious way than by using Defenses, this is a rather limited use of its functionality. We usually evolve into using the CNG with all major relationships that we care most about. The more we do a CNG, the more it allows us to shift our Defensive energies into supporting a CNG rather than protecting us. We start to see how poorly designed our Defenses are to actually function on our behalf. This means that our Creative Nature becomes more preemptive in identifying who and what we engage, and no longer sets us up to take care of others when we do not have the energy to do so.

An effective CNG can also help us minimize our Pretenses and Imprinting. Until this occurs, we can easily be sucked into trying to prove ourselves or attempting to fix others to make ourselves feel better. That does not work. Having more energy available to be creative by engaging our Primary Creative Expression greatly enhances our CNG. We learn to optimize our energetic well-being using the CNG as the measuring framework for our increasing effectiveness. It is important that we do not try to push this process too quickly because we will end up attempting to use energies we do not have and crash and burn. Usually people start with thirty to forty-five minutes a day of CNG. After half a year or so, we can be up to two hours a day of a quality CNG. The big breakthrough comes when the majority of our time with people is done in a CNG. This usually takes a year to occur. There are a lot of little things we are learning about our own energy system that need to be integrated before we can take the big leap and use CNG in the majority of situations.

The problems of CNG embodiment can be helpful in assessing where we are in creating a full Common Neutral Ground. Since a CNG is a combination of Life, Light and Love energies, Attachments, Positions and Projections of the truth (rather than the full Truth) show up when we are not completely embodied. Like Truth, a CNG is invisible but its impact and effects are fully visible. The more inclusive and present we are in our Truth, the more we will embody a Common Neutral Ground. Wherever we compromise ourselves we attract negative impacts from an incomplete understanding of the lessons. This feedback process helps us to clarify what works versus what does not work. Take a moment now to read over the list, identifying the challenges that are currently present in your life. This may encourage you to read certain sections of this book several times to make sure you have identified the sources of your issues.

Level 4 is where we make the full transition from a personality orientation to accepting our Creative birthright as an Authentic Being. At this stage, Common Neutral Ground is an essential part of our operating process. Instead of being isolated, we are connected to various aspects within ourselves allowing us to be fully present with others. We have learned to step outside of our concerns for safety, security and self-importance as we are now more committed to interpersonal Creative Expression. This shows up as a sense of detachment so that we can consciously choose how much, and when, to connect with others. Co-Creativity becomes the great healer as we learn how to operate more effectively in all situations. The strength of our CNG also increases, and we learn how to hold space for others around us so that we can process together, without reactions, either internally or externally.